Well, Slap My Face And Call Me Sally

After all my bitching blogging about not getting an appointment from the rheumatologist's office, I got an appointment from the rheumatologist's office. It took almost three days, during which time the doctor reviewed my request, looked at my file, and then presumably hauled out his medical Ouija board to help make the final determination. Never mind that two of those days were replete with back pain, unsteady hands, and bouts of narcolepsy. Not that I'm ungrateful - getting an appointment, even after three days, is better than a slap in the face with a wet monkfish.

Today I awoke and felt well enough to try another walk. That's Vitamin D and a bit of exercise all in one, so I headed out, driving the car to another venue lest I get bored of the same scenery. I wanted to try the northern shore of Lake Tohopekaliga, but there were too many McMansions blocking visual access to the beauty of the lake, and too many damn noisy cars whooshing up and down Neptune Road. I did get a few interesting pictures while soaking up some rays, and it was hardly a total loss. Next time, though I'll head for the old lakeshore, pull up a bench under the shade of a 125 year old tree, and knit.

More from the Fabulous World of Fibromyalgia:

Tip #8 from Toni Bernhard's list:

8. Be highly selective about what you watch on TV and where you surf on the web.

This is something I have been trying to do for a long time, gently easing people out of my life, or at least off my "follow" list, not necessarily because they have said or done something to harm me (although some have in the past and it turns out I am not nearly as forgiving as I once thought I was) but because I associate them with a rise in negative emotions, generally preceded by my loudly expostulating "what the f*ck!" before casting them out of my sight.  Really, I have more than enough anger and sadness and grief in my life without reacting to someone else's pain, selfishness, or abject stupidity. With that in mind, I've been doing some mad scrolling past news from the presidential primary campaigns, the last act of the Obama administration, the refugee crisis, the BDS movement against Israel, the imminent implosion of Venezuela, global warming, abused pets, twittered mewlings from William Shatner, and the NBA conference finals. I'm a person who normally loves the news in any form, but right now, I can't cloud my head with any of it. It's not that I don't care, but that I have cared too much For too long and it has cost me dearly. So I am putting myself in a corner for a time-out.

Besides my walk today, I also picked up the ingredients for Paula Deen's Mexican Chicken casserole, except I made a few substitutions and I'll tell you about them tomorrow. Although I field-stripped the rotisserie chicken this afternoon, I didn't have left anywhere near the number of spoons needed to actually put everything together and cook it. The cat and the dogs were thrilled with my chicken-ripping skills, and politely deigned to taste a morsel from my efforts, and then noisily proclaimed their approval. All this was too exciting for me, and I landed back in bed, my back propped up with pillows, and more than just a little cranky. I'm not sure if it's old age cranky, or gastric bypass cranky (food is not my friend), or fibromyalgia cranky, but I hate it.

Tomorrow I am going to follow Toni Bernhard's Tip #1, and keep a "try mind." I am going to try to do another load of laundry. Bwah ha ha.

And I am going to try to make it through my rheumatology appointment without getting snarky.